I was travelling to Schwerzenbach from Zürich with a connection zone ticket and a Zürich( zone 10 )month card. Well at Dubendorf I got into a ticket control and as I got my Half Tax card out I saw that it was more than 1 month expired. Well I hoped the ticket controller would not see that it was expired -but no such luck!Well he was not sure what to do so he called his boss to help. He spoke a few words to his boss and suddenly his boss said that THEY have to get off the train ( the train was coming in to Dubendorf. I asked if I had to get out and they said no-even though it was clear that I was travelling on an expired halftax. Such luck!!. My question later was how could I buy a Zurich monthly card with a halftax that was expired, as in order to get a Zürich monthly card on the machine one has to give in the details of the Half Tax.Something wrong with their system there.

It would be easy since the onus is with the ticket holder, neve experienced a machine asking for Halbtax details as they are not linked. Not a fault of the system as it doesnt expect it, the responsibility is with you to make sure.

It would be easy since the onus is with the ticket holder, neve experienced a machine asking for Halbtax details as they are not linked. Not a fault of the system as it doesnt expect it, the responsibility is with you to make sure.

Of course they are linked. To get a Zürich zone 110 card for one month on the machine one has to give in the details of the half tax ( number ) and the persons birth date.

Still remains your own responsibility to check for expiration. The half-tax thingy is only linked as you have a personal abo (happened to me too, by the way - but the controller was easy and I got a new one asap...).

Though SBB usually send you a letter to remind ya - including the option to re-new...!

My question later was how could I buy a Zurich monthly card with a halftax that was expired, as in order to get a Zürich monthly card on the machine one has to give in the details of the Half Tax.

Nope, they have the same number but are completely separate - the number is just to identify you as a person when you buy a personal (non-transferable) pass. In fact, there's no discount in the monthly/yearly passes for having a Halb-tax.

Sharing the number just means that if you get a new card you don't need to give them your details and picture all over again - they already have them. I had a yearly pass long before I got a halb-tax, and when I bought a halb-tax they just took the number to get the picture and personal details.